Archive for March, 2013

It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted something up here, isn’t it?

Well it ain’t gonna’ change much sooner – but I am working on a solution, believe me.

Heavy weight cuties

Now, where was I? Oh, yes: that anime. I was quite a show, wasn’t it?

For anyone reading this but who did not watch the anime, It is about girls in high school who use tanks as a form of sports competition. Something only weed smoking Japanese could have possibly come up with… 🙂 Go give it a try! It is one of those sleeper-hits that are just too crazy to miss out on! – A word of warning, I’d rather You watch the show for the first four episodes before You decide whether or not to put it down, because let’s face it: it is ridiculous at first. I mean THIS level of ridiculous:

Now, I’ll do now something I’ve never done before and that is: writing about an anime. And I will also do another first, that being: writing about the end first – this is will be interesting…
Okay, I’ll warn you again: do NOT continue reading if have not watched all 14 episodes!

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Do not go home crying that I have spoiled the best for you.

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But what am I saying, right? I mean: it HAD TO END THIS WAY. I know I may be a bit down to earth – or even backwards if you want to be dramatic, but I would have really preferred another ending for this awesome anime! An ending that would have been more realistic, that could have foreshadowed a second season with the showdown finally coming to its zenith (nice pull/pun on that, I might add). But no. I mean the only thing really consistent throughout this show was that the underdog wins. No matter the odds. No matter the difficulties. When things go legs up, reality goes out the window… oh my god!

Hetzers gonna hetz

Up until this episode there has been khmm ‘creative freedom done on physics for the sake of storytelling’, but this is just overboard for me. I mean: the Maus weights in around 188 TONS for crying out loud, the Hetzer is… under 16 tons. I bet they will explain this behaviour with the ‘fact’ that every tank in the anime is reinforced from the inside out so that no shell whatsoever can penetrate the hull of a tank, but even still they should have ended up like a pancake. Something like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=d4LTlRrCdEg#t=213s would have surely been their demise – despite any reinforcements!

Also the way they got chased down by the Black Forest Peak Team was hilarious – in a negative sense. I mean: they overpowered the THREE to one, still they gave them a chase, instead of herding them like cattle against the big guns of Elephant, JagdTiger, JagdPanzer and King Tigers.

For all purposes this could have really been the end shot of the damn anime (except it isn’t, but those who have watched it to the end will no doubt have the same feeling):

Girls und Gozdilla!

And then, of course there was the show down between the two sisters. Awesome, no really it was AWESOME, if you disregard the tanks zipping around with what looks like 100mph on concrete, disregard traction like a race car, and ohh a few little things, like… like this:

They see me driftin’ … they hatin’ …

There is a reason why this abomination of even anime physics was allowed to come forth (even though most of the anime is pretty sound in this regard), and that is nothing else than to end the anime with Ooarai being victorious. And I am really sad to say this but after this. It HAS to end. If they would have done something a little -just a little bit- more realistic (like Ooarai are getting beaten to a pulp – but the school is not closed down because of, well because they steam-rolled every other team in existence and only came out second against a brick wall, called Black Forest Peak) thing to end, then there would have been a reason for a second season – retribution.
But this way… I don’t really see any!

I do believe there will be a second season for this anime – now that the commercial success is 600% or so (the forecast was for ~5k copies sold per release, now just the pre-order volume is at 30k!) any manager would be burnt in hell and back if he/she lets a success of this magnitude go out without another ‘milk run’. But now, I just don’t see the point in it.
I mean: They beat everyone, they have been through hell and came back victorious against ridiculously daunting odds… what now? Go back and do the same thing again, although now with even BETTER machines? I doubt they will have problems with the funding now… They have beaten up every real player there is, what is store for season two now? Watching Hana do better flower-arrangements?

Sorry for my rant, it is just that I had such a high hopes for an anime that never ever let down on the pressure. An anime that was willing to push the excitements to yet another level. Only to go out in … something I don’t know what to call sadly… 😦